top of page

Kimhun Ne

Hello! My name is Kimhun and I graduated from university in 2022. I have two siblings, a sister and a brother. They both are married and live far away. When I was four, my parents decided to go to Thailand to find work. I remember going to Thailand illegally. We had to walk across the jungle from the Cambodian border to Thailand at night. I was so scared because it was dark and quiet. If Thai police had captured us, we would have been shot to death. Life in Thailand was tough because we didn’t speak any Thai. My mom worked as a cleaner at a noodle shop and my dad worked as a car washer at a garage. They worked really hard from morning till night and sometimes we picked up cans on the way back home to sell for more income. During the day, I went from trash can to trash can to pick up cans and sell them for money. I was always bullied by the bigger kids when my parents went to work. When I turned 6, my parents sent me to study in Cambodia. I remember that I had a dream, the dream was to live with my parents in Cambodia. In early 2014, my father became very sick and had to come back to Cambodia. It was hurt to see my dad ill. Unfortunately, he passed away after one month of being really sick.  It was such a big loss to my family, especially, to my mom. She had to work even harder to feed me and my grandma and support my studying. She didn’t want to return to Thailand because it would remind her of my father. Instead, she decided to go to Phnom Penh to work there as a street vendor. I cried often because I could do nothing to help my mom.


Seeing other children with their parents reminds me of how unfortunate I am. If I could go back to the past when my father was alive, I would have given him a big hug and told him that I loved him. Growing up in a family that has no father and the mother always stays far away taught me so much about life. I wanted to give up a few times because I pitied my mum. She never complained and worked even when she was sick. I was also insulted by other children that they called me an orphan. I always asked myself what did I do wrong. Going through these hardships really made me strong and understand how other poor children feel when they are abandoned or their parents go to Thailand for work. My life has changed since I started working with TASSEL.


I have been working with TASSEL since 2020 when COVID-19 hit the world badly. Everyone lost their jobs, including my mum. I had always wanted to become an English teacher and help poor children. Then, I found TASSEL where I could fulfill my dream. TASSEL became my second home where I was loved and cared for by many other Khmer teachers, foreigners, and students. I was able to share my knowledge with many poor children and help them with all my heart. TASSEL to me is a home to everyone, especially, children and people who are hopeless like me. I always share with my students about my life to encourage them to move on with hope because they have many kind Khmer teachers and foreigners who always love them and care for them. I thought I was the only one who had so much suffering, but at least I have my mom and my grandma who always love me and care for me. However, many of the TASSEL students whom I taught, their lives are way horrible. They have no parents because their parents abandoned them. They ended up living with their grandparents. They also have to look for food daily in the jungle to feed their siblings and grandparents who can’t work. Many of them have abusive parents who also beat them up when their parents are drunk. Thankfully, TASSEL is there to help them and to give them hope. I am absolutely happy to get involved with TASSEL to help change these children’s lives. TASSEL is more than an organization, it is a hope for all people of all ages.

Kimhun Ne
bottom of page